The chambre de bonne -- or maids room -- is an under-exploited space in many French buildings, left unheated and used for storage or rented out as-is to students. But Elle Décoration has a feature on a tiny 134-square-foot chambre de bonne that's been cheerfully designed like a real apartment, with a double bed that doubles as a daybed during the day (with under-bed storage for clothes and bedding), a compact kitchen with dining for two, a tiny shower and sink and a workspace...

Architect Vincent Renié designed the chambre de bonne like a ship's cabin. One wall of the mini-apartment houses the kitchen, storage, a second sink for grooming (the shower is opposite) and a workspace, with floor-to-ceiling built-in storage to give it clean lines and keep it from feeling clautrophobic.

Conspicuously absent from the reportage is a mention of the toilet, which is most likely across the hall or on the landing -- which is still surprisingly common in the former maids quarters (or regular unrenovated since the 19th-century quarters) of Parisian buildings, as anyone who has househunted here will undoubtedly know.